Magician of the Fifth
by Xanaris
Summary: Harry Potter was born into a prestigious family and made heir over his elder sibling. With the burden of being an heir, the expectations of the magical world, his sister's hatred of him, and the mysteries of True Magic, what is he to do? 3yrs Older/NonBWL
1. Prologue

A/N: I was reading _The Wizard of the Kaleidoscope_ by OnTheImportanceOfLungs when I was inspired to make my own crossover with the Nasuverse and this is what I came up with.

In this story, I've replaced the Aozaki family with the Potters, with Harry having Aoko's role. He'll be three years older than canon and he will _not_ be the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry will be somewhat of a genius and he will be powerful, but I won't make him super or god-like, at least not in comparison to other characters. There will be people who can match him in terms of strength or surpass him in sheer brilliance. Then there will be those who completely overwhelms him. There's a lot of stories out there where Harry is ridiculously powerful and none can stand up to him and frankly, I find that it just makes the story boring if done so, so there should be no fear of mine having that.

As far as pairings goes, I'm thinking of pairing him with either Fleur Delacour or Tohsaka Rin, but I'm not quite sure which yet. It'll just depend on how well I like the characters in my story, I suppose.

Anyway, enough of that. Onto the story! ;)

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

Humanity can be split into two vastly different groups. The mundanes, all of whom goes through everyday life using skills that are not extraordinary, not outside the range of what a normal human should be capable of. These are the people who make up the majority of the world, most of whom live their entire life without once knowing anything of the supernatural save for what they learn in fiction and mythology.

Then there are the magi, humans who can control prana to manipulate the world around them using an art known as magecraft. They are made up of a very small portion of the human population but often highly regarded as wise men, scholars whom are decades and centuries ahead of their time. Back when magecraft was openly accepted by society, it was the magi that people looked to, to advise them.

Those ignorant of the art would oftentimes think magecraft is akin to Magic, but the difference between the two is as great as night and day. Magecraft can actually be replicated by even the mundanes through science. A fireball created with prana can be reproduced simply by setting a stick on fire.

Magic, True Magic, on the other hand, is the ability to do the impossible, defying laws of nature in ways that cannot be done with mere science. The very few who were capable of wielding True Magic, numbering at less than ten throughout history, were referred to as Magicians or Sorcerers, though it would not be inappropriate to call one a magus since they could still perform magecraft.

The knowledge between the difference of magecraft and Magic was known only to those who practiced the art and as such, magi started to refer to magecraft as magic while Magic became known as True Magic to lessen confusion when working with mundanes.

Magecraft was once utilized via divine words, words of power gifted to magi by god-like beings that allowed them to channel prana of the world, known as mana, to use their art. It was so powerful that some of the greatest magi of that time would nearly be on par with a Magician, a feat that's not easily reached.

Unfortunately, after the Age of Gods had come and gone, divine words were lost to the magi of the world, an event that would greatly diminish the powers granted to them by magic. They were forced to find different methods to perform their magecraft as they no longer had any way to properly control prana. This led to the discovery of magic circuits, a circulatory system magi are born with that allowed them to channel od, prana of the body, as opposed to mana and thus giving them greater control over their magic once more.

Merlin, a genius of a magus and a Sorcerer in his own right, sought to bring back the greatness of magecraft by artificially reproducing divine words and was successfully able to create incantations. That, combined with the increasingly popular staves and wands allowed for such great ease of magecraft that even a child would be able to perform it if properly instructed.

Those who worshipped Merlin as though he was a god thought this new system of magic was a blessing. It did, after all, give them fine control over their art and was ridiculously easy to learn compared to how it was previously done yet still allowing them to invent new spells should they wish to.

The other magi, however, didn't think as such. They saw this new system as an easy shortcut that doesn't give true understanding of the art and feared that those who used it would grow dependent on it and become lax. Anyone can be taught to swing a sword but only those who completely master all aspects of it will be able to wield it with great efficiently. The magi believed the same holds true to magic.

It was a topic of many great arguments over the years until wizards, those who use the new system now known as witchcraft and wizardry, having had enough, split away from the magi and formed their own society. Using Merlin's system of magecraft, they thrived for many generations all the while growing egotistical and arrogant in their 'superior' art. Because of the ease in which magic could now be used, wizards grew lazy just as the magi foretold.

Fortunately, not all of the wizarding world became as such. Among them, the Peverell line was one of the most renown family, using both systems of magecraft with surprisingly good results. But what really made this family famous was their discovery of the Fifth Miracle, one of the few remaining True Magic of the world. This led to them gaining great power and prestige in both societies.

As with all magical families, the Peverells passed down the secrets of their art to the heirs of the house. Sadly, True Magic is something one either gets or doesn't get, depending on one's mindset, and no amount of teaching can impart it's secrets to someone else, unlike magecraft. As a result, only three people in history had ever learned to use the Fifth Miracle.

While at first those in the family were greatly hyped up, hoping the next heir would manage what the previous one couldn't, they soon learned not to expect anything. Slowly, even as the Peverell line became the Potters, the Fifth Miracle faded into the background becoming nothing more than a tradition to pass on to the next heir.

And then, Harry Potter was born.

* * *

><p>AN: Well, there you have it. I know its short, but its only the prologue. I'm going to be aiming for 5 to 10k words per chapter after this. I'll try to update at least 2-3 times a week, hopefully more, but I'm making no promises there.

Anyway, the prologue here is just some basic history of the magical world, the birth of wizardry and whatnot. It was necessary to introduce this piece first so that you'd understand exactly how different the Potter family is from the rest of the wizarding world (magical world is everything supernatural while wizarding world focuses only on witches and wizards).

I'll go into more details on the history and explain the differences between the two magic systems as the story progress, but for now, my focus lies with the Potter family.

Until next time! :D


	2. 01: Deaths in a Family

Harry Potter was just like any other cheerful four years old boys his age. He had loving parents and a caring sister, even if she had been acting a bit weird around him lately, a funny godfather and an intelligent uncle who loved teaching him new things. One would think this was a perfectly normal, happy family.

They would be dead wrong.

The first thing that immediately detracts from the norm was that they were all magical. Lily and James Potter graduated at the top of their class at Hogwarts, a wizarding school in Scotland. Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, descended from an ancient and noble house that was said to have demonic blood in them, something easily spotted when he's enraged. And Remus Lupin? He's a werewolf.

Naturally, with parents such as Lily and James, the two Potter children couldn't possibly be anything other than magical themselves. Rosalyn, the elder child by two years, was like a miniature copy of her mother. She had beautiful crimson hair and her father's hazel eyes, even going so far as to gain his bad eyesight. But what really sets her apart from normal kids, magical or not, was her intellect, easily putting other children her age to shame, and the larger than average amount of magic circuits she was born with. Being the elder sister, Rose usually acts more mature than her age should allow, hoping to be a good role model for her brother.

Harry, on the other hand, was like the polar opposite of his sister. He was gifted with his father's messy raven locks and had the emerald green eyes of his mother, which included the perfect vision she had. While he wasn't as smart as Rose, he wasn't far behind. What truly marks the differences between the two siblings, however, was the fact that Harry was born with only a single magic circuit, something that caused his parents to fear for whatever talent he may have had in magecraft. And, for all of Rose's maturity, Harry counters it with his mischievous and playful nature.

As unique as the family is, where they were now living is even stranger.

Due to an ongoing war, the Potters had gone into hiding in a nice little cottage home in Godric's Hollow, a rather famous wizarding settlement despite its small size. While the location wasn't strange in and of itself, it was the fact that the house was hidden under a _Fidelius_, a powerful charm used to implant information one wishes to be hidden into another's soul so that none but the one implanted can give out the secret, that makes it stand out, in a metaphorical sense.

Harry, being as young as he is, didn't fully understand just why they were hidden under such a powerful charm in the first place. After all, the _Fidelius_ was something very few people knew how to make and even fewer knew how to break, at least according to his Uncle Remus. It was just a fleeting thought, however, and vanished from his mind as quickly as it came.

As of now, Harry was standing on a couch in the living room, gazing out of the window with a childish awe at the children running around trick or treating despite the dangerous time. His parents sat not too far away listening to the radio with his sister reading a book just below them.

He was admiring a particularly realistic looking ghost costume, complete with some sort of transparency spell, and idly wondering how they kept mundanes from noticing, when he spotted them. Two figures dressed in black robes with white masks simply appeared out of nowhere at the end of the lane.

It took Harry a few seconds to shake himself out of the shock of their sudden arrival before their appearance even registered with him. While he may have been young, Harry was very bright and so, was able to recognize the Death Eaters for who they were almost immediately.

He continued watching the pair, momentarily paralyzed at the sight of two Death Eaters, when he saw them stopping right in front of the Potter house. The very house that was _supposed_ to be hidden from them.

It only took another second for Harry to react at that sudden thought. He jumped off the couch and hastily scrambled over to his parents, both of whom had looked up at him in concern by this point.

"Mum! Dad!" Harry shouted as he shook his arms about frantically, hoping to convey the seriousness of the situation with such a simple action.

It didn't work.

Lily knew her children well, so it came as no surprise that she was able to easily deduce the fear on her son's face. However, she put it off as something as trivial as him seeing a scary costume outside.

With a serene smile, she got off the couch and knelt down by her youngest child, wrapping him into her embrace in an effort to calm him down. "Shhh... it's alright Harry. Calm down, then you can tell mommy what happened," she said, all the while patting his back.

Harry quickly shook his head before forcefully pulling himself out of her embrace. By this point, even James was starting to get worried. Before he could say anything to ease his son's apparent fear, said son screamed out, "No!"

Harry backed away from his mum, a sign indicating that he didn't want to calm down, before abruptly turning and pointing out the window. "Dead Eaters, outside," he finally managed to tell them with his limited four years old vocabulary.

Lily and James paled while Rose, who had been watching the scene in curiosity, widened her eyes.

All three shared the same thought, _They're after Harry!_

While Lily and James knew about the prophecy that may or may not involve Harry, Rose only knew a bit from overhearing her parents talking about protecting her brother at all costs. Even with such little information, she was still able to put two and two together and figure out that Harry was the target.

James recovered from the shock first. He immediately set off to the window to observe the Death Eaters himself, all the while yelling out orders to his wife. "Take Harry and Rose upstairs and stay hidden! They shouldn't be able to even see the house, so there's a good chance they're just passing through," he said, trying to gain control of the situation with the certainty that his house couldn't be found, due to the fact that he, himself, was the Secret-Keeper.

While she was hardly a submissive wife, Lily understood the seriousness of the situation, else she would have reprimanded her husband for even attempting to order her about. Without a second thought, she quickly scooped up both her kids and scrambled out of the room.

Lily had just closed and magically locked the door to her room when the house lightly shook and James let out a piercing scream of pain. Briefly, she wondered how the Death Eaters could've possibly seen the house, let alone gone past her wards without tripping them, but immediately discarded the thought when she registered just whose scream it was. Unbidden tears streamed down her cheeks as she clutched her two children, both of whom were frozen in fear, to her chest, her eyes never leaving the door.

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

James reached the window the second Lily and the kids were out of the living room. Any certainty he had in his assuredness of the _Fidelius_ charm was wiped from his mind the moment he spotted the two Death Eaters looking directly _at_ him as opposed to through him.

_They can see the house!_ James thought in horror.

Unfortunately, before he was able to do anything about it, one of the Death Eaters raised a wand and fired off a powerful bludgeoning curse that shattered the glass and slammed into his right shoulder. With a scream, he was sent spiraling across the room, landing on his wound.

Not a second later, the front door was blasted off its hinges and the two Death Eaters entered.

James turned his blurry vision to the door, idly noting the screams of panic outside the house. Now that they were closer, he was able to identify the two as a single male and female pair.

"Well, well, well..." the female of the two started.

His blood ran cold at the sound of her voice. He'd heard her speaking on many occasions over the years, and there was no way he would mistaken her as anyone else. "Lestrange," James growled out, attempting to sit up while at the same time awkwardly trying to draw his wand with his left hand.

With a casual flick of her wand, Bellatrix disarmed him. "None of that now," she said as she stepped closer to him, signaling for the other Death Eater to stand guard even as she removed her mask. She wouldn't want to be interrupted during her fun, after all.

Bellatrix stared down at James with cold disdain, a mad glint shimmering behind her dark eyes. "Look at you now," she started as she slowly circled around him. "Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, down on the ground... it's sickening! The Potters have always been a powerful family, but look at what it's been reduced to!"

James glared hatefully back at the woman. "The Potters remain as strong as ever," he defiantly replied.

She cocked an eyebrow at his declaration. "Maybe," Bellatrix conceded, silently admitting that James was more powerful than her magically. "But it won't be for long," she finished with a nasty smirk.

With a roar, James leapt off the ground and channeled prana through his magic circuits. Unlike most wizards and witches of this day and age, the Potters have always trained their children on how to use their magic circuits from the moment they could walk. He needed no wand to perform his magecraft.

Surprised by the sudden attack, Bellatrix had no way to defend herself from the cutting curse that left a trail of blood from her left shoulder to her right hip. She grunted in pain as she took a few steps backwards before lifting her wand and creating a powerful shield to hide behind, just in time to block a bludgeoning curse aimed at her head. Her companion took a step forward to help her, but Bellatrix held up a hand to stop him.

"Hit a nerve, did I?" she asked cruelly, slowly getting her breath back under her control.

James narrowed his eyes while flexing his hands in preparation for another attack. "You will not lay a hand on my family!"

"Family?" Bellatrix muttered. "Family?" she suddenly screeched. "Those _half-blood_ brats and their _whore_ of a _mudblood_ mother," she spat out, "aren't deserving of the Potter name!" Taking a breath to calm herself, Bellatrix composed herself as best she could before glaring coldly at James. "I just don't see why you would dirty your pure blood with the likes of theirs."

Even as she badmouthed his wife and children, James couldn't help but smirk at her. The pureblood's indiscriminate hatred of any and all that would sully their precious magical blood was something of a running joke in the Potter household.

"What are you smirking about?" Bellatrix asked, feeling her temper getting the best of her again.

"The ignorance of the purebloods," he immediately replied. "The only difference between a magical and a mundane is that we are usually born with our magic circuits already fully manifested," James explained, trying to buy some time to think up of a plan of attack. "The ability to use magecraft has absolutely nothing to do with one's blood!"

"So you claim," Bellatrix replied, easily batting away his explanation. So deeply were the pureblood's ideals ingrained into her that anything that would contradict it was simply ignored.

"Then explain why there has never been a 'squib' in the Potter line?" James countered as he waved his hand at her, using the sudden debate as a disguise to what he was truly doing. A lamp slowly levitated behind the two Death Eaters with the table it rested on following closely behind. "A 'squib' is practically the same as a mundane being born into a magical family! All they need to do to use magecraft is learn how to manifest their magic circuits," he continued, with another subtle wave of his hand, transfiguring the two objects into sharp spikes.

Bellatrix and her companion thought nothing of the hand waves, believing them to just be James' way of expressing himself in his 'false' belief. "The Potters' lack of a squib is just proof of how magically potent their bloods are," she answered before finally losing her patience. "But enough of this nonsense! I have a job to do and it's best not to keep the Dark Lord waiting."

Without warning, she quickly dropped the shield and shot the infamous _Killing_ curse at James, which he easily sidestepped. As he dodged the attack, he flicked his wrist once more and sent the two spikes at his enemies.

The male Death Eater, who was closer to the transfigured spikes than Bellatrix, let out a blood curdling wail when he was pierced through his right shoulder from behind, dropping to the ground in pain. Bellatrix, thanks to her companion's scream, was able to dodge enough that the spike just barely missed her.

Cackling madly at his failed surprise attack, she quickly sent a series of hexes and curses at him, hoping to overwhelm him.

James cursed as his one easy chance at beating her went out the window. He nimbly danced around the spells sent his way all the while sending his own spells back at the dark witch.

Bellatrix proved to be just as nimble as James was, easily dodging the spells he fired at her. A transfigured dog jumped to bite at her ankles but was set alight before it got too close. In retaliation, she shot a _Cruciatus_ at him, only mildly disappointed that she missed.

Sweat poured down his face, but James dared not wipe it off, lest he give her an opening. He continued raining down spells on her, increasing in speed, just as she continued to do so to him. A quick jump to the right and he dodged a bludgeoning curse strong enough to take out three-forth of the wall behind him.

Despite the seemingly even match, it was obvious to both James and Bellatrix that she was slowly being overpowered. Angered, Bellatrix released the demonic part of her heritage, her eyes turning a bloody color with her pupils slitting even as her skin gained a reddish tint.

Suddenly, her speed and reflexes increased dramatically and her spells vastly powered up. The upper hand James held was quickly lost. With no other choice since she upped her game, James activated the Potter family's thaumaturgical crest.

The magical crest lit up on his back and down both arms, shining a blue light even through his clothes. With the activation of the crest, James instantly had generations worth of wind-based magecraft at his fingertips.

A wave of his arm sent a gust of razor sharp winds at Bellatrix, its speed surpassing her own. Her eyes widened a fraction before the attack hit, the first to fully connect after only two minutes into the duel.

Bellatrix bit down on her tongue and growled, fighting back a scream of pain as cuts were littered throughout her body. Just as the attack seemed to have died down, and as she raised her wand to counter, a burst of air hit her on the side and slammed her into a wall. Caught off guard, she wasn't able to hold back her scream a second time.

With victory in sight, James moved to deliver the finishing blow when his nerves were abruptly assaulted, courtesy of the _Cruciatus_ from behind. Even as he screamed his throat raw, James cursed himself for forgetting about the second Death Eater.

"Damn bastard," the male spoke for the first time as he stumbled forward, his face finally revealed due to his mask falling off earlier from his fall.

Even through the haze of pain, James could clearly make out the face of one Barty Crouch Jr. His eyes widened at the thought of one of the Ministry's most respected men's son joining the other side of the war. For a man as great as Barty Crouch Sr., it just didn't seem possible for anyone of his blood to become dark.

But now that he could see young Barty's face up close, there was no denying it. Barty seemed to be every bit as mad as Bellatrix, his eyes constantly twitching and roaming about as though looking for enemies, and his tongue periodically darting out to lick his lips. Even the insanity behind his brown eyes was at a level comparable to the dark witch herself.

"_Crucio!"_ Barty hissed out, sending another pain inducing attack at James, who writhed around but refused to scream out as he did earlier.

"That's enough, Barty," Bellatrix said as she stood up from where she had crumbled down, her previous demonic transformation now gone.

Barty sent her a surprised look at the order, thinking she of all people would have wanted to torture him, but complied with the command anyway.

The dark witch limped over to the two men, all the while glaring hatefully down at the form on the ground. She hated that her fun had to be cut short, but the Dark Lord did tell her to be quick about this. "We still have a job to do," she reminded her partner.

Fear flittered across James' face, but he was powerless to do anything. It wasn't fear for his own life, however, but that of his family's. He had failed them and all because of a simple mistake. Once more he cursed himself as tears streamed down his face.

Barty raised his wand again, intending to send the man to the afterlife when his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

"Wait," Bellatrix told him, her eyes never leaving the downed form of James. "I've got a better idea."

Her partner recognized her tone of voice. It usually came out as she was about to do something particularly nasty. He sent a smirk her way before backing up, intending to watch the show.

Without preamble, Bellatrix raised her wand and sent black flames right towards James, who was too weak to dodge. It was a crafty spell, every bit as dark as the _Fiendfyre_. The flames were hot enough to burn through anything, but it does so slowly. Normally, it'd take over an hour to burn a person to death with this curse, but with a few modifications, Bellatrix was able to lower the time down to roughly five minutes. There was no reason she should give him the relatively painless death of the _Killing_ curse, after all.

As the flames were heading towards him, everything seemed to slow down for James. All he could think about were the loving faces of his family and how they'd never laugh again. And it was his fault, all his fault, for not being strong enough. _I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..._ he thought repeatedly, like a broken record, even as he screamed when the flames finally touched him.

Five agonizing minutes slowly went by, filled only by the howls of pain emanating from the form on the ground and the mad cackling of both Lestrange and Crouch Jr. And when the flames died out, all that was left of James Potter was a pile of ashes.

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

_Several moments earlier..._

Tears continued to stream unabashedly down Lily's face ever since she first heard her husband scream. Despite wanting nothing more than to curl up into a ball and bawl her eyes out, she instead steeled herself. If for nothing else, she needed to be strong for her kids.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Lily quickly wiped her tears away and faced her children. The sight of her two kids frozen in fear nearly broke her once more, but she managed to hold on.

Gathering her children, she hustled them over to a corner of the room, both Rose and Harry numbly allowing her to guide them.

"Stay here and whatever you do, _don't_ move and _don't_ make a sound," Lily sternly told them in her no nonsense tone of voice before tossing the invisibility cloak that James had lying on the bedside table over the two.

Then, without another word, she turned towards the door and started drawing runes after runes in the air. Each rune she drew would shoot itself forward at the door, slamming itself into it before glowing slightly to signal its activation then disappearing.

Lily didn't have her husband's skill at fighting, nor the knowledge of the magi's system of magic at her disposal. What she did have, however, was an intimate grasp on runes. She was practically unrivaled in this particular branch, but that had more to do with the fact that most people, magi and wizards alike, don't often bother with runes. That's not to say her skills in it were bad; far from it. With enough time and effort, there was practically nothing she couldn't do with her runes.

Because it was such a rarely used form of magecraft, there are few people in the world that could break down a ward created by runes as opposed to other branches of magic. It was for that particular reason that she was so surprised when the two Death Eaters actually managed to do just that earlier, on top of breaking the _Fidelius_.

Unfortunately, Lily was unable to properly create protection wards this time around. Normally, she'd be able to bind the runes to the mana of the land, allowing that to power her craft. But to do so now would require time and preparations she just couldn't possibly provide, so instead she bound the runes to her od, a source of prana that's not nearly as vast.

Her wards, when actively attacked, would only hold for five to ten minutes at most before her reserves of od depletes completely. She briefly toyed with the idea of escaping through the window with her children, but quickly tossed the thought aside. Lily had no doubt that they had already put up a barrier to prevent any such escape. Her only hope was that she could buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive.

With the wards up, Lily stepped back to catch her breath, the grip on her wand tightening in anticipation. She flinched when a particularly loud howl erupted from the living room, but calmed down when she realized it was a female's scream. Her husband was winning!

What elation she gained quickly died away when it was James' screams that next filled the air. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest, but there was naught she could do for him.

While Lily was preparing herself to fight, Rose and Harry continued staring at the door, tightly clutching one another for security.

Rose simply couldn't believe this was actually happening to her family. She couldn't understand why anyone would be so interested in Harry. He was, after all, only four years old! He'd never done anything impressive enough to be targeted like this, has he? She quickly sorted through her memories for anything Harry may have done but came up with nothing.

_So if it wasn't something he did,_ she thought, _then maybe it's Harry himself that they're after!_ But then that led to the question of _why_. Just what was so special about her brother? A flash of childish jealousy reared its ugly head that they would think him more important than her, before it was ruthlessly crushed. Rose told herself that it wasn't Harry's fault that he was getting more attention.

As Rose was wondering why Harry was being targeted, said boy was screaming in his mind for all this to end. To him, this was a nightmare brought to life. He wanted to wake up, to get away from all this, but he couldn't. He knew, deep down, that this was no dream.

It was all real.

It was happening.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

When the female's screams reached their ears, the two children thought the same thing their mum did, _Dad's winning!_ One could actually see the hope rising in their faces, before it was suddenly bashed away when the howls of pain their dad emitted replaced the screams.

The three occupants of the room continued paling as the wailing from James never seemed to ease. It seemed to go on forever before five minutes later, it abruptly ended. And all that was left in its wake was silence.

Everyone held their breath, knowing instinctively that James was no more, yet denying the thought of him being dead anyway. This was James Potter they were talking about, for god's sake! He couldn't possibly be dead... right?

The silence was abruptly broken by two sets of feet marching up the stairs. The sound of their footsteps was steadily growing closer and suddenly Lily wished the silence was back.

She tried to think positive thoughts, hoping against hope that Sirius and Remus managed to arrive in time to save James. That after getting him settled, they were now coming up to check on her and the kids. It was such a grand thought that she almost believed it, but she couldn't fool herself.

The footsteps were slow and calm, each one deliberately mocking. They weren't panicked and rushed as she'd imagined it'd be if Sirius and Remus were the ones making them. This was more akin to a predator stalking over to its cornered prey, every step made to send fear down the victim's back.

Two sets of shadows could be seen through the tiny gap under the door as the Death Eaters finally stopped before her room.

_Boom!_

The door shook in its frame as the first spell blasted into it.

_Boom!_

Lily felt her od steadily draining, fighting to hold the wards up.

_Boom! Boom! Boom!_

On and on it went, spells after spells slamming against the door, seemingly endless. By now, Lily was visibly shaking. Her eyes narrowed, her teeth clenched, and her knuckles turned white from the intensity of her grip on her wand.

**_Boom!_**

Suddenly, the door was blasted off its hinges and slammed into the opposite wall with such strength that it actually shattered upon impact.

Without a second thought, Lily fired curses and hexes through the opening in her room, but her depleted od soon forced her to stop. To her dismay, the two Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr. her mind supplied, stepped through the doorway unharmed from her attacks, though Lily could tell they were pretty beaten from the fight with her husband.

"_Crucio!"_ Bellatrix yelled out, her wand pointing at Lily's heart.

Prepared for such a thing, she crumbled down relatively soundless, but she could not deny the immense pain shearing through her nerves. She had been put under the _Cruciatus_ curse before, but never with such intensity.

The dark witch let up on her attack as she stepped closer to Lily. A quick motion of her left hand and Barty scrambled forward. He gripped Lily by her hair and pulled, forcing her onto her knees and her head back to stare up at Bellatrix.

"Where is he?" Bellatrix asked, sneering down at the girl. She had no doubt in her mind that Lily knew exactly who she was asking for.

Mustering her strength, Lily spat out at Bellatrix all the while glaring hatefully at her husband's murderer.

A look of disgust crossed Bellatrix's face as the spit hit her robe and without warning, she sent another _Cruciatus_ at Lily, who managed once more to hold in her screams of pain. It was only thanks to Barty's grip on her hair that Lily managed to stay upright.

Ending the spell, Bellatrix curled her lips up in a snarl. "Do _not_ test my patience, mudblood! _Where. Is. He?_"

"Gone," Lily choked out before smirking up victoriously at Bellatrix. "You've failed your master!"

Her eyes flashed red in anger before she lifted her wand back up to Lily's form. "Bartemius!" she screeched out. Barty understood her intentions and pointed his own wand at the girl in his grasp, and together, the two sent another _Cruciatus_ curse at her.

This time Lily couldn't hold in her screams, the pain being far greater than before. It was all she could do to stay conscious.

Rose and Harry, both of whom had been watching in silence partially because of fear and partially because they were told to, could no longer hold it in. Their fists were clenched so tightly that their palms bled as they watched the scene in horror, but it was the last straw when their mum screamed out.

"Mum!" two simultaneous cries burst from their mouths.

Lily's eyes widened in fear when she heard her children. "N...no..." she sobbed out, falling to the ground as Barty released her.

A devilish smirk danced on Bellatrix's lips as both her and Barty's eyes locked onto the corner of the room. "Gone, you say?" she drawled out, her eyes darting once more back to Lily.

"L...leave them... alone," Lily pleaded as she crawled over to Bellatrix's legs.

"I don't take orders from you," the dark witch said with a mad glint in her eyes. "Finish her, Barty. We've no more use for this trash."

Bartemius grinned sinisterly at the command before turning his wand back onto Lily. "_Avada Kedavra!_" he hissed out gleefully as a green light burst from his wand.

"NO!" Once more twin screams were heard from the corner, but this time it was accompanied by two small bodies suddenly appearing and rushing towards the downed figure. But try as they might, both Rose and Harry were too late. The light in Lily's eyes were forever gone.

Cruel laughter erupted from the throats of both Death Eaters as they watched the children crying over their mother's corpse. After a minute, their laughs finally died down.

Bellatrix turned her eyes towards the small boy. She didn't know why the Dark Lord wanted this particular child killed, nor did she care. She'd do anything her Lord commanded her without question.

"And now," she started with her wand now pointed at Harry, "You."

Fortunately for the kids, before she could utter the _Killing_ curse, she felt an unimaginable pain originating from her arm, more specifically, the Dark Mark. The suddenness of it caused her to cry out. She didn't even notice the same happening to her partner.

The pain only increased in intensity as time passed, and coupled with the injuries she gained from fighting James, Bellatrix had no way of remaining conscious. She fell to the floor like a puppet cut off from its strings. Beside her, Bartemius mirrored her actions.

Neither Rose nor Harry paid any attention to what was happening around them, however. Their eyes were glued onto the body of their mother. Harry kept shaking her, calling her name out and hoping she'd react, but Lily remained as still as ever. Rose, on the other hand, was too numb to do anything but stare at the lifeless eyes of her mum.

_Dead..._ she thought. _She's dead... she's dead... dad's probably dead too. They're both dead!_ Uninhibited tears burst forth from her eyes as she mourned the passing of her parents.

Rose wanted nothing more than to blame the whole situation on Harry. If he wasn't around, her family wouldn't have needed to go into hiding. They wouldn't have been targeted specifically like they were now. Her parents wouldn't be _dead_.

One look at Harry's tearstained face, however, and all thoughts of blaming him were tossed out the window. He was as innocent as she was.

Gathering what strength she had left, Rose pulled Harry into a hug and together, the two cried over the loss of their parents.

That was the scene Sirius and Remus arrived to when they finally appeared ten minutes later. Numbly, the two adults bound the Death Eaters up before kneeling down on either sides of the kids, their own tears joining the two children's.

And across the world, even as wizards raised their glasses up to praise Neville Longbottom as the Boy-Who-Lived, four souls continued to weep into the night.

* * *

><p>AN: Well! The first chapter's done with. I don't often write so I'd appreciate any crits and comments you guys can offer.

I'll see about getting chapter 2 up sometime this week as well, but again, I make no promises.


	3. 02: A New Life Pt 1

A/N: It took longer than I hoped to finish the chapter... stupid writer's block. It's shorter than I had wanted, but there was only so much I can put into it without dragging it out. Part two should be longer though.

Hiraishin 4: Tohsaka Rin, or I suppose it's Rin Tohsaka with Tohsaka being the surname, is another character from the Nasuverse like Aoko Aozaki. She appears in Fate/Stay Night and is actually one of my favorite characters in the Nasuverse.

And no, you do not need to have read _The Wizard of the Kaleidoscope_ to understand the story. The only similarities my story will have with that one is the merging of the Nasuverse and the Potterverse. I _might_ add in the Sharingan as a mystic eye but if I do, Harry won't be the one getting it and there's a good chance there'd be no Mangekyou Sharingan.

As for the Fifth Miracle... it's one of five True Magic in the world. The First Miracle is the magic of creation, the Second Miracle is the Kaleidoscope that allows travel through space and dimensions, the Third Miracle is the materialization of the soul, I'm not sure exactly what the Fourth Miracle is, and the Fifth Miracle was never explained as far as I know. Therefore I'm going to fill in the Fourth Miracle with something of my own, like OnTheImportanceOfLungs did when he made the Fourth Miracle pertaining to the Truth of the world or something of that sort. And since the Fifth was never explained, that too will be filled with something of my own creation and I already have a good idea as to what it is.

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

Eyes snapping wide open, Harry shot up in his bed completely drenched in sweat. _It's that dream again..._ he thought as he recalled the horrifying night five years ago. He had been having the same nightmare for the past few years, constantly forced to relive the encounter over and over again. Thankfully, as he grew older the dreams became less frequent, though they still tend to pop up once in a blue moon.

Harry could clearly remember his father's wails that would always send shivers down his spine and his mother's lifeless green orbs that continually haunts him even after he awakens. It took him weeks to even look into a mirror again, his own eyes reminding him far too much of what he lost. Then there was the laughter... The cold, cruel cackling of both Bellatrix Lestrange and Bartemius Crouch Jr.

Just the very thought of it caused Harry to clench his teeth in anger.

That's right. Anger, not fear.

Harry may have been scared witless of Death Eaters once upon a time, but he no longer harbors such feelings. To fear them would be to give them power, and power allows others to control oneself. Therefore, Harry made a vow to never again become scared in any situations he may find himself in. He still couldn't forgive himself for freezing in fear while his mother was being tortured, despite the fact that he was only four and couldn't do anything about it anyway.

Shaking his head of these thoughts, Harry looked over to the clock on his nightstand. Turns out, it was only a few minutes before he was supposed to wake up anyway. With that information in mind, Harry promptly fell back to bed and shut his eyes. As if he would dare miss even a few minutes of extra sleep!

Unfortunately, just as he was about to drift back into the lands of dreams, a knock at his door caused him to groan in annoyance. Blearily, Harry opened his eyes and glared hatefully at the door, willing the person behind it to just leave him be.

Rose poked her head through the door when she received no answer. Completely ignoring her brother's glare, she continued into the room, heading straight for his closet.

"Can't you let me sleep just a little longer?" Harry whined pitifully even as he started to sit up again.

"Nope." Her reply was short and to the point, not bothering to explain why she felt the need to wake him up earlier than usual.

Harry stared at her curiously. Rose was acting stranger than normal. While most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between how she is now and how she usually acts, Harry was the few that was actually able to see through her mask. It was blindingly obvious to him that she was excited about something, though for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

As Harry got off the bed and caught the clothes thrown his way, a simple white t-shirt and jeans combo that he usually favored, he decided it wouldn't hurt to ask her. "What's gotten into you today?"

In response, Rose merely stared at him with an eyebrow raised. He knew that look, of course. It was one she always gives him whenever he did or said anything stupid. Harry felt as though he should be offended, after all he wasn't omniscient and couldn't be expected to know everything, when he suddenly remembered the date.

Today, Rose was turning eleven, which meant the family was going to head to Diagon Alley to buy her school supplies. Although he could see why she would be excited, academics was a passion for her, Harry just didn't have the same enthusiasm.

It wasn't as though they've never been to Diagon Alley before and the only new thing she could really buy now was a wand. And considering the training Harry and his sister has been and are still receiving, he knew for a fact that Rose didn't need a wand to perform magic at all and it wouldn't affect her performance whatsoever.

Satisfied that she got the point across, Rose made to leave the room. She paused at the doorway before looking over her shoulder, "Don't take too long! Grandpa's already waiting with breakfast ready." That done, she headed towards the stairs with only the slightest of springs in her steps noticeable.

Rolling his eyes, Harry muttered under his breath about how his odd sister was always trying to act more mature than she should be even as he headed towards the bathroom adjacent to his room.

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

Rose couldn't help her excitement for the day. She knew, of course, nothing special was going to happen during their trip to the alley, but that didn't diminish her high spirits one bit. Even if she wasn't getting anything she didn't already have, wand and school robes aside, it was what the trip represented that made her so happy.

She was finally becoming a student.

Most kids would scoff at the idea of being forced to learn anything of value. Rose, on the other hand, took to academics like a fish to water. While she had always been smart, her drive to improve herself through knowledge was actually because of her brother, Harry.

Shortly after the deaths of their parents, their grandfather, Charlus Potter, took the two siblings in. From then on, Rose and her brother lived at the Potter Manor overlooking a small mundane town near Godric's Hollow. It was actually pretty lonely most of the time, considering the size of the manor and the fact that the occupants numbered only three.

Charlus wasted no time in teaching the kids about magecraft, Rose picking up where she left off with James and Harry starting from scratch. It came as a slight surprise to Charlus to find out just how advanced Rose was for her age, something she greatly prided herself in. One could safely argue that she was born to do magic.

Nobody, however, expected much from Harry. He had less od than normal kids his age and only a single magic circuit in comparison to Rose's twenty-eight circuits. Both Rose and their grandfather expected him to be a fairly bad magus, so it came as quite a shock to the both of them at just how naturally gifted Harry was.

If Rose was born to do magic, then Harry was born to completely dominate it.

With just a little training, he was practically at Rose's level in magecraft despite the two years age gap, and he never seemed to use nearly as much prana for any of his magic as Rose or even Charlus used. Even with less od than normal, he could easily outlast her simply because he has such unnaturally fine control. What was worse, everything he did was completely instinctual to him.

Rose's ego wouldn't allow her to be worse at magecraft than her brother. She was the elder sibling. She was going to become the head of the family. And, she was supposed to be _his_ role model. So it only made sense for her to be better at magic, right? So, in order to remedy this, Rose threw herself into her studies.

She tried harder, learned faster, and did everything she could think of just to stay ahead of Harry. It pissed her off to no end that he could keep pace with her when he didn't even seem to be _trying_ to do so. No matter how hard she worked, Harry, even with his carefree attitude towards everything, was almost always just a step behind her in magic, and occasionally several steps ahead. It simply wasn't fair.

Hogwarts was the answer she was looking for. To Rose, it was to be a way to advance far above Harry's level. The school had one of the largest selections of books in the magical world, second only to the Clock Tower. While there, she'd have access to materials she couldn't obtain at home, giving her a distinct advantage over Harry.

With a soft smile at that thought, Rose entered the kitchen and joined her grandfather at the table.

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

"Morning grandpa!" Harry cheerfully said as he slid into his seat ten minutes later.

"Harry," Charlus responded in kind, giving only the briefest of glances at his youngest grandchild.

Of course, Harry wasn't at all discouraged by his grandfather's attitude. As long as he has known the man, Charlus Potter was a man of few words. He acts cold and distant to everyone, even those of his family. That was more or less thanks to how he was raised: to be the perfect heir.

Even though he acts as such, it was the small things that Charlus does that clues Harry in on the fact that he was actually loved by his grandfather. Personally learning to cook meals, buying whatever it was the two kids wanted as rewards for doing well in their studies, and lending an ear out for them whenever they needed to talk; all were but a few things that Charlus had started doing after taking Harry and Rose in.

Since he had already seen and greeted Rose, in a manner of speaking, Harry chose instead to focus his attention on his food. It was a simple dish, bacon and eggs with some toast, something he's had regularly, but Harry still ate it as though it was the best meal in the world. His grandfather was just that good at cooking.

Because of both Rose's and Charlus' personality, breakfast was almost always spent in total silence. Today was no exception.

As they ate, Harry wondered what he would get his sister for her birthday. There wasn't much that she didn't already have, and even fewer things that she wanted. It was always a challenge getting a gift for her, but it was one Harry eagerly accepted every year since he was six. Thinking over her hobbies, Harry suddenly realized what to get Rose, especially since she was going away to Hogwarts. He barely stopped himself from outright grinning.

Fifteen minutes passed by without much happening. Once the plates were cleaned off, Charlus turned his attention to the two kids. "We're leaving at noon," he stated before standing up, taking the dishes to the sink. "Until then, you two should finish up your morning routine."

"Yes, sir," Rose answered as she, too, stood up. As the two made to leave the room, they were suddenly interrupted.

"Ah, wait grandpa!" Harry exclaimed as he made to join them. Pausing at the doorway, Charlus looked over to his grandson, patiently waiting for whatever it was Harry needed.

Rose spared her brother a curious glance before dismissing him and continuing to her workshop. Whatever it was Harry needed had nothing to do with her, or so she thought.

"What is it, Harry?" Charlus asked, but he merely got ignored for the time being.

Harry waited until his sister was out of sight before turning his attention back to his grandfather. "I forgot to get Rose a present this year," he admitted to his slight shame. "Can I go over to the normal side of London when you two are shopping?"

"Absolutely not."

The answer came without even so much as a pause, startling Harry slightly. However, being who he was, Harry quickly overcame his state of shock, "Aw! Come on, gramps... I can look after myself."

This time Charlus raised a skeptical eyebrow in response. He knew, of course, that Harry really could take care of himself. To be completely honest, Harry's safety was the furthest thing from Charlus' mind when he refused the boy. "Not after what happened last time," Charlus said, staring down at Harry without blinking.

Harry had the decency to blush at the mention of _that_ particular incident. Last year, his grandfather had made the mistake of taking his eyes off young Harry once. What came of it was a missing truck and twenty-three injured adults, as well as a collapsed store. Harry didn't dare tell his grandfather how that came about, and the others involved were far too traumatized to recount the occurrence either. Charlus was still paying for their hospital bills even to this day.

Pulling out his secret weapon, Harry gazed up at his grandfather with tearstained eyes, "B-but... I need to get a present for her..."

He was met with mere silence. For a short while, Harry thought his act was ineffective against his grandfather, who hadn't even batted an eye at his performance. Then, just as he was about to give up, Charlus let out a weary sigh and gave a slight nod, "Fine, but if you cause any trouble, any trouble at all, don't expect a second chance." Rarely could Charlus ever say no to a request from either of his grandchildren.

Suddenly, the supposed tears in Harry's eyes vanished with no visible trace of them ever existing in the first place. His emerald eyes lit up in joy and one could practically see sparkles radiating off of them, "Thanks grandpa!"

Without waiting another second, Harry sped out of the room and headed towards his own workshop, leaving behind a worried grandfather who was now dreading his decision.

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

A workshop is _the_ private sanctuary of a magus, places where they can conduct research and experiments as well as practice magecraft. Of course, it isn't as cut and dry as that. Nearly everything a mage knows about magic could probably be found in his or her workshop.

Their entire life's work in a single location.

Because of that, workshops are considered _very_ valuable. In fact, most, if not all, magi place the protection of their own workshop as a far greater priority than their own life. To them, their countless years worth of research is of more importance than a single life, even their own. For that reason, to magi, an attack on another magus' workshop is a highly criminally offensive act, greater even than the wizards' about those who uses the _Unforgiveable_ curses.

One doesn't usually get their own workshop until they're at least partially adept at magic. Normally, this wouldn't be until they were in their teenaged years, usually thirteen. Of course, as with every rule, there are always exceptions. In this case, Harry and Rose.

While both siblings were gifted at magecraft, it was only two years ago that they were deemed competent enough to get their own workshops, located in the basement of the Potter Manor. To Rose, it was practically a second bedroom, probably more akin to her primary one. She spends almost all her time in it studying and improving on her magic.

Harry, on the other hand, saw the workshop as just a room he can use to practice magecraft in safety. Sure, he researches and experiments on things as well, but only the few aspects of magic that actually holds his interests, unlike Rose who wishes to have knowledge of everything pertaining to magic. As such, Harry is usually only found inside his workshop during the few hours of self-study every morning that was required of him.

And it is within this practically barren workshop that one Harry Potter can now be found.

Charlus didn't care what his grandchildren studied during their morning routine, as long as it was related to magic and wasn't too dangerous. The mornings were set aside so that the two could explore different aspects of magecraft whereas the afternoon lessons were used to teach the kids specific magic that all magi needed to know.

Taking that into account, Harry spent most of his time trying to master wind-based magecraft in hopes of restoring the Potter family's thaumaturgical crest which was lost when James' body was burnt to ashes. Although he knew it was an impossible task, there being no way he could gain generations worth of knowledge on wind magic in one lifetime, Harry continued to pursue this course of action if for no other reasons than the fact that it held a connection to his father.

Sweat dripped down Harry's brow as yet another of his wind blades failed to slice through the target. He was trying to sharpen the wind blades but despite his efforts, they were never enough to be able to cut through things. The closest he got was making a gash upon some wooden constructs.

Deciding on a different approach, Harry tried to wrap wind around the dummy. The increased speed from the circular motion the wind had to make would surely be of help. Not only that, he figured with so much wind twirling around the target, a couple of them were bound to cut through the construct as he hoped it would.

What Harry got instead severely disappointed him.

While he could feel something was happening, further proved by the slight drain on his internal prana, his eyes didn't spot any visible change to the dummy. Earlier, when Harry was just tossing blades of wind at it, the target at least got pushed back, indicating that something was happening. But now, it was as though he didn't do anything. The wooden dummy stood as still as before.

Pouring more prana into the attempt, Harry waited for any change, any sign that this wasn't going to be another failed attempt. When nothing continued to happen, he cut off the supply of prana to the air around the dummy and sighed in disappointment.

With that last attempt ending in failure, Harry decided he's had enough practice for the day. This was actually starting to frustrate him, considering he has been at this for roughly two months now with little progress to show for it. Usually, when he tries something new he can master it within a week or two, shorter if he actually dedicates himself to doing so, but this time he seemed to be getting nowhere.

The fact that Harry managed to get to the point where he could begin to sharpen the wind with just half a year's worth of studying wind-based magecraft, as opposed to an average magus taking several years, never even crossed his mind.

Harry sat down at a nearby desk in the corner, glaring angrily at the stacks of notes he had on wind magic. He couldn't understand what he was doing wrong. He wanted to get the wind to sharpen, but instead found that all his attempts resulted in condensed air that acted more like a bludgeoning curse. Positive there was some trick to this that he was missing, Harry went over his notes in greater detail determined to find out what it was.

That lasted for all of five minutes.

Harry threw down his notes and stood up, all his frustrations suddenly vanishing as though it was never there in the first place. Like a switch was flipped, Harry's serious persona was replaced by his natural childish one, far more befitting of his age.

"Oh well, I'll get it next time," he spoke aloud, though there were no one else around. It was nearing noon and he had to freshen up a bit before he could go out.

With that in mind, Harry promptly left his workshop, never noticing the cracks on the wooden dummy nor the ones on the ground it stood upon. Cracks that could only have been made from massive amounts of pressure.

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

The Potter family gathered in the living room, ready to go. Charlus held a pot of floo powder out so each of the kids could grab a handful before he acquired some for himself.

Harry stared down in annoyance at the powder in his hand. He absolutely hated traveling by floo, a method of travel devised by wizards that used interconnected fireplaces, of all things. In fact, now that he thought about it, portkeys and apparating, the two other forms of instantaneous travel, weren't that much better.

The three types always seemed incomplete to young Harry, and for all he knew, they probably were. While they were effective in getting from one location to the next almost in an instant, they all shared the same problems: a huge amount of discomfort.

Wizards did have a tendency to leave things half-finished, so it wouldn't have come as a surprise to Harry at all if this was just another one of those incomplete things. After all, why bother to perfect something that works just fine the way it was?

_Maybe I should find a new way to travel_, he thought to himself. _One that's not nearly as uncomfortable._

Harry watched as Rose disappeared with a burst of green flames, silently dreading his turn. A side-long glace at his grandfather told Harry that he was expected to go next. Forcing his nervousness away, Harry stepped up into the now empty fireplace, hand clenched tightly on the powder.

A single and clear shout of, "The Leaky Cauldron!" followed by the tossing of the powder onto the ground, was all it took. Harry suddenly found himself spiraling through space, countless numbers of fireplaces popping up and vanishing before his eyes. He grew nauseated as the seconds ticked by until finally the exit was in sight.

Across England, in a hidden bar in London, Harry was spat out of the fireplace reserved for floo travels. He fell face first into the ground, soot covering his body, and only barely stopping himself from throwing up.

Yes, he was definitely going to come up with a new form of travel.

And if Rose doesn't stop her giggling, she was certainly not going to be getting her present.

* * *

><p>AN: I realize there isn't much dialogue between the characters and there's a perfectly good reason for that. I was trying to make the Potters come across as a pretty distant family, one that loves each other but rarely interacts with one another. Not sure how well I pulled that off though.

The next chapter should be much more exciting than this one, with a few important things that will define Harry later on in his life. Then after that, there will be another timeskip, this time only two years so that Harry can start Hogwarts himself.

R&R people! I'm kinda disappointed in the lack of reviews I'm getting. :(


	4. 03: A New Life Pt 2

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I would've finished this chapter sooner, but I've been busy lately.

I'll start off by answering some questions.

First off, the Aozaki family will be completely replaced by the Potters. There may be an Aozaki family in an alternate reality that may or may not appear due to the interference of Zelretch, but you'll have to wait and see. ;)

Secondly, I know you're all a bit disappointed by Lily's lack of combat skills, but it has nothing to do with her being a bad witch. Just because you know the spells doesn't mean you can use them properly when the time comes. What she lacked wasn't skill but rather experience. She was scared for her husband, worried for her children, and by the time the Death Eaters got there she was panicking. She wasn't in her right state of mind and she wasn't in much life and death situations before, despite being part of the Order of the Phoenix.

Also, it should be noted that wizardry is _not_ a bastardized version of True Magic, though it _was_ created with True Magic. Everything a wizard can do can be replicated through science, even if the science of this time period is not advance enough to do so. Transfigurations is the rearrangement of molecules, animagus has to do with changing their genetic codes for brief periods of time, and even apparitions and other forms of instantaneous travels is just a way of opening a temporary wormhole in the fabric of space. Just because it can't be replicated with today's technology doesn't make it theoretically impossible. True Magic, on the other hand, is.

There were a few more questions in the reviews, but I feel I shouldn't address them now, as to do so would spoil the story later on. You'll just have to wait and see. ^^**_  
><em>**

**_Magician of the Fifth_**

Harry stepped out of The Leaky Cauldron and onto the normal side of London, alone. With his money safely tucked away, he headed down the street and towards the nearest shopping center. He figured if he got Rose's present fast, he'd have time to spend for himself before having to go home.

It was a fairly odd sight—a nine year old boy wandering the streets of London without a guardian around. He earned more than a few curious stares and some even tried to help him 'find his parents'. Harry's heart tightened at the mention of his parents and he wanted nothing more than to hit the idiot who brought it up upside their head, but manners beaten into him by Charlus curbed the thought. It wasn't their fault that they didn't know his parents were dead, nor the fact that he wasn't even lost to begin with.

It didn't take long before the shopping center, an outdoor mall, came into view. Harry spent a few seconds marveling at it—he didn't often get the chance to come to London and the sheer size of it always awed him. He quickly shook off his admiration, however, and proceeded forward.

Store after store were passed until the one Harry was seeking came into view. It wasn't anything spectacular, just a simple little shop that he knew Rose visited once in awhile. Without pause, he stepped within.

Palettes, brushes, crayons, markers, paints, and the likes lined the walls of the art store. One of his sister's favorite pastimes happened to be drawing, so using that as a basis, Harry was able to decide on a present with ease. It was only the matter of getting to said store and buying the gift without Rose noticing that was much of a problem, something easily resolved when his grandfather allowed him to go alone.

Harry walked past several shelves filled with supplies, heading deeper into the store, all too aware of the eyes trained on him like a hawk, watching his every step. At first, he wasn't entirely sure what he had done to garner such attention, but then realized a young boy like him wouldn't normally be by himself, let alone shopping at an art store. He found it amusing that they thought him a possible thief and showed it by grinning widely. That only served to make the employees all the more suspicious.

With just a few minutes of searching, Harry found what he came here for. Sitting in a box high on a shelf was a pile of artists' mannequins, mannequins that were used to make simple human poses for references. There wasn't anything special about this particular pile, in fact, it was pretty plain by all means. As such, it was really cheap, probably too cheap to be considered a proper gift.

But Harry didn't care about that little detail; after he was done personalizing it with the use of magic, it'd be a perfect gift. A simple rune inscribed on the bottom and he'd be able to put a permanent animation charm on it that'd make the mannequin change poses every few minutes. As far as gifts were concerned, this probably wasn't anything that great, but at least he'd be comforted by the fact that Rose would actually get some use from it.

If only he knew...

"Can I help you?" a voice asked from behind Harry, startling him out of his musings.

He turned around to find himself face to face, or rather face to stomach, with one of the male employees of the store. When he looked up and saw the slightly annoyed look on the elder boy's face, he only then realized that he'd been staring at the mannequins for a little too long. That would explain why the teen, Steve, the nametag supplied, came over. Harry probably looked as though he was trying to muster up the courage to steal something.

Deciding it'd be a good idea to avoid anymore suspicions being cast on him, Harry turned once more to the wooden dolls and pointed at it, "Can you get one of those for me?"

Steve turned his gaze from Harry over to the mannequins with an eyebrow raised. Something that looked remarkably like understanding and amusement passed through the teen's eyes, but it was gone too fast for Harry to place it. With a smirk, Steve looked back down to the boy at his side, "You know," he began, "if you wanted an action figure, there's a toy store not too far from here..."

"What?" Harry asked in confusion, the seemingly random comment having thrown him off balance.

"These things here," he picked up one of the wooden dolls and turned it over in his hands, "aren't toys. It's not something a little kid like you should play with."

Harry's right eye twitched in irritation. The nerve of this guy! To treat him like some idiotic child... forget the fact that he really _was_ a child. "It's for my sister," he huffed out, his tone laced in annoyance.

Unfortunately for Harry, it went right over the teen's head. "Sure, whatever kid. Let me ring this up for you," Steve said with no small amount of amusement.

Harry reluctantly followed him. At least he wasn't thought of as a thief any longer... though being considered a simple kid wasn't much better. Honestly, a kid? That's just insulting. He'd much rather preferred being thought a thief.

Harry couldn't wait until he was older.

_**Magician of the Fifth**_

With the gift purchasing over and done with, Harry found he still had roughly two hours remaining before he was expected back. Originally, he had wanted to spend his remaining time strolling through the mall and simply enjoy what little time he had outside of the Potter Manor. Half an hour into that, however, and he found himself bored out of his mind.

Harry looked over at the group of teenagers that he'd been more or less following, pursing his lips. The group was laughing and generally having a grand time, and all they've done was walk around staring at random things in stores. He had emulated them to see what was so great about that and after having done the same, chalked it up to them all being strange. There was absolutely nothing fun about window shopping. At all.

Deciding to take a break, Harry wandered over to a large fountain near the center of the mall. He took a seat on the edge and just relaxed for several minutes. Time ticked by slowly as Harry quietly observed his surroundings. Families going to and fro, kids hanging off of their parents, all with large smiles on their faces. It was a heartwarming sight to the young Potter and he couldn't help the bittersweet smile, one that had no place on a kid his age, that spread across his lips.

Before he could get lost in memories of his family, Harry slapped himself on both cheeks simultaneously. He received some odd looks for that strange action, but he cared little since it accomplished what he wanted; pulling himself out of his mood. He knew for a fact that dwelling on 'what ifs' could do nothing but lead to dangerous thoughts that he'd much rather stay away from. Like his Uncle Padfoot had always said, _"Carpe diem—seize the day!"_ It was a phrase that Sirius had always lived by and something that Harry aspired to achieve for himself. After all, life was so much more fun if one didn't have the past to drag them down or the future to worry about.

A commotion across the street broke him of his thoughts. Unable to contain his curiosity, Harry scrambled onto the fountain to better see the situation.

A young girl, about the same age as Rose with dirty blond hair and sky blue eyes, was surrounded by a group of older boys. It was painfully obvious to any who looked that she was no friend of theirs. They pushed her back against a wall, glaring down at her and just looking menacing all around. Yet despite the fear in the girl's eyes, despite the trembles in her body and the shake in her voice as she argued back, she stood her grounds with her head held high. It was quite an admirable trait.

Harry had no clue how this little incident began, though if he had to guess, it probably had something to do with the ice cream on one of the boys' shoes. What he did know, however, was that no one around seemed to be doing anything. It was pretty clear that the group of boys held some kind of reputation because everyone seemed far too scared to approach and help the poor girl. Without even stopping to consider the consequences, Harry leapt off the fountain and dashed across the street.

In his haste, he completely forgot about the mannequin he just purchased. As such, he also completely missed the shadowed figure who picked up the wooden doll while watching him in curiosity.

_**Magician of the Fifth**_

"—you going to pay me back?" one of the boys, presumably the leader, demanded as Harry snuck up on them.

"I-It wasn't even my fault! You bumped into me an—Aah!" The girl was shoved to the ground before she could finish her sentence.

Having had enough of this, Harry bent down and picked up a handful of pebbles. He was well aware of the fact that the pebbles would do little to no damage, but all he needed was a distraction to slip in. With a deep breath to calm himself, he threw the little rocks as hard as he could at the boys. A few were hit in the head, stunned by the sudden attack. When they turned around to catch the perpetrator, they were startled to find a little boy standing before them.

"Leave her alone!" Harry yelled out, showing no amount of worry whatsoever on his small frame.

"What do we have here boys?" a muscle bound boy asked, his eyes narrowing in anger. "It seems, someone fancies himself a hero."

"Better than a coward who has to gang up on a girl half his size," Harry retorted, grinning.

The muscled boy grew red in the face, whether from anger or embarrassment, Harry knew not. Just as he was about to step forward and teach Harry a lesson, the leader held him back. "Now now, Frank. You don't want to be accused of hitting little boys as well, do you?" he said with slight amusement.

Shocked that his leader would side with the kid, Frank turned to his boss to argue, "B-But Jack! He—"

"I know exactly what he said." Jack's casual voice suddenly turned cold, "And there's no way he's going to get off scot-free for insulting us."

Before anything else could happen, the forgotten girl jumped in front of Harry, her arms stretched out to the sides. "Leave him alone!" she yelled, mimicking Harry's earlier words.

Harry stared at her in shock. He had created a distraction hoping that she'd take the opportunity to run, yet here she was trying to save him! He didn't know whether to be impressed by her actions or annoyed by her recklessness. Not that he was one to talk.

"What are you doing?" Harry hissed at her, annoyed the girl ruined his attempt at saving her.

She turned her head around and glared at him, the fear she once held in her eyes now replaced by determination, "I should be asking you that!"

Harry didn't get a chance to reply as Jack and his gang laughed at the scene. "Hiding behind a girl?" Jack asked mockingly. "And you call us cowards? Ha!"

His right eyebrow twitched in annoyance even as he sidestepped the girl. Harry stepped closer to the leader, his fists raised in preparation for a fight. "I'm no coward!"

"Are you nuts?" the girl—he really needed to learn her name—whispered hysterically from behind him. "There's no way you can take them all on!" Her words went unheeded.

Jack, upon seeing the sight of young Harry ready to fight, only laughed harder. "Y-You think you can take me on? What… you know karate or something, kid?" he jokingly asked, laughing all the harder.

It was an innocent question meant only to insult the intended target. To anyone else, it would've riled them up or been dismissed entirely. Unfortunately, the question was directed at Harry and it should be noted that he was anything but normal. An idea crossed his mind, something few magi ever bothered with and even fewer wizards learned—combining magic with martial arts. But, given the current situation, Harry was forced to push the thought to the back of his mind for another time. He needed to put all his focus into the task at hand if he wished to get away safely with the girl.

"Alright, brat," Jack started when Harry was within range. "I'll let you have a freebie. Give me your best shot." He grinned madly as he spread his arms out and planted his feet firmly on the ground, sneering tauntingly down his nose at Harry.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, initiating yet another round of laughter from the boys. "Alright… you asked for it." And without any further prompting, Harry socked the older boy between his legs.

Dead silence. Then…

"YAAAAARGH!" Jack screamed in pain as he crumpled to the ground, his hands grabbing onto his groin. He rolled back and forth, trying to lessen the pain, before settling on a semi-comfortable position and simply whimpering pathetically.

The gang stared at Harry in shock. The girl stared at Harry in shock. Hell, even the crowd of people that were uninvolved but couldn't stop watching the scene, stared at Harry in shock. And Harry? He just stood there with a devilish grin on his face.

Then, while everyone was seemingly frozen, Harry turned around and grabbed the girl by her arm, "Run!" He pulled her alongside him as he set off, all the while his grin never leaving his face. It only took the girl a few seconds to gather her wits again before she started running on her own power.

Jack opened teary eyes to glare hatefully at the two. "W-What are you f-fools waiting for?" he yelled out through his pain. "A-After him! _I want him dead!_"

Hearing that, Harry only ran faster, the girl managing to keep pace with him. Without stopping, he turned his head to regard his companion. "What's your name?"

At first, the girl had thought Harry was stupid to get involved in something he clearly wasn't cut out for. Then he went and punched the older boy, and she had thought he was foolishly brave. But now that they were running for their lives and he was _still_ grinning as though this was some sort of game, she was certain that he was crazy. There was simply no other explanations for it.

"Is now _really_ the time to be making introductions?" she asked him in exasperation as they turned the corner. Harry merely shrugged, not caring whether or not it was a good time. She studied him for a few seconds, unsure what to do, before sighing. "… it's Tonks."

"Well, nice to meet you, Tonks! I'm Harry," he cheerfully replied before grabbing her arm and cutting across the street.

One of the gang members, a tall skinny boy, almost caught up to the two when they suddenly changed directions. He made to follow them but wasn't paying attention and was nearly ran over by a car whose driver was equally inattentive. He was saved only by the fact that the driver caught sight of him at the last second and swerved away. Of course, that resulted in the car running onto the sidewalk and straight into one of the many stores, crashing through it.

Harry skillfully ignored the commotion behind him as he continued running, tugging on Tonks' arm when she paused to see what happened. He had to tug harder when she stopped altogether, seemingly in shock, "Come on, Tonks!"

Dazedly, Tonks returned to running, her eyes still glued onto the scene behind her. "S-Shouldn't we do something?" she asked Harry.

"What for?"

Her eyes snapped back to Harry and she studied him once more, closer this time. Tonks had dismissed his lack of reaction to the accident behind them as him completely missing it, but now she could clearly see that he had known and simply _didn't care_. Just exactly what kind of kid did she get herself involved with? Maybe she was safer back with the gang…

The duo turned another corner, running towards a ladder being used to put up a new billboard. As he ran past it, Harry accidentally bumped into the ladder, knocking the person on it off balance. Not even stopping to apologize, he just continued on without a care in the world.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the man on the ladder. Once he was off balanced, the man instinctively reached out to grab the nearest thing in order to regain his footing. It just so happened that the nearest thing turned out to be the unfinished billboard and the sudden extra weight caused a few bolts to loosen. Before the man could do anything, the bolts snapped off and the billboard started to tilt dangerously over the edge.

The gang of boys chasing after Harry and Tonks were just about to turn the same corner the two kids had when the billboard fell. Two of the faster runners were right in the middle of its path, unable to get away in time, while the rest stopped a few feet away, watching in shock. The two boys were crushed but miraculously survived. The same could not be said for the parked car that was holding up most of the billboard's weight.

There was a small respite caused by the boys pulling their two comrades out. Harry and Tonks, thinking they lost the gang, were able to breathe easier for a few minutes. Sadly, Jack had been trying to catch up to his group and managed to spot the two, restarting the hunt. It wasn't long before he was rejoined by his gang.

The chase continued on all over the outdoor mall, similar disasters such as the car crash or the billboard incident repeatedly occurring. The amount of damage caused seemingly by accident—no one could really tell if Harry had planned everything or if he was just naturally that destructive—was staggering.

An hour into the chase and both Harry and Tonks found themselves backed into an alley, having taken the wrong turn. Just as they were about to run out, Jack blocked their path, his eyes glinting maniacally. Slowly, six of his comrades—all covered in bruises and burns—trekked in behind him, sealing the exit. Harry noticed they were all armed with pipes and bats, though he couldn't figure out where they managed to get the weapons in the first place, but he quickly pushed the thought away. It didn't really matter.

Had it been anyone else, they would have been frozen in terror, trapped as they were. But, like always, Harry was _not_ anyone else. This was a boy who would laugh in the face of danger and casually cause destruction left and right without batting an eye. So, instead of backing up and further cornering himself like it was expected of him, Harry's grin only widened as he firmly held his place.

Beside him, Tonks was looking indecisive about what to do. On the one hand, she knew that they couldn't possibly take on the gang alone—seven teenagers to two children were not very good odds. Yet with the strange boy, Harry, standing there without an ounce of fear in his body, she couldn't help but gain some small amount of courage. It didn't stop her from shaking, though.

"Nowhere to run now you little shits," Jack growled out as he stalked over to the two, careful to keep out of range of Harry. He pulled out a butterfly knife from inside his jacket and flipped the blade out, holding it loosely in his right hand.

Without warning, Jack lunged at Harry with a slash. Eyes widening, Harry pushed Tonks to the side even as he fell back, barely dodging the attack. Jack made to kick him when he was down, but a quick roll to the left and he was safely out of harm's way.

Not wanting to constantly be on the defensive, Harry kicked out at the other boy's shin. Jack hadn't expected the sudden attack, so the kick managed to successfully connect with him. A minor shout of pain escaped his lips as he jumped back, inadvertently dropping the knife in the process.

With the pause in the fight, Harry scrambled back onto his legs and laughed, "You're not so tough, are you?"

Snarling at the boy, Jack turned his head around to his gang, "Get him!"

With their orders given, they wasted no time in jumping Harry. He jumped and dodged as though he was a monkey, his tiny frame and the small space helping him in avoiding many of the blows from the bigger boys who didn't have nearly as much room for maneuvering. Yet, despite what he tried, Harry was still only one kid fighting against several teenagers, and as such, tired far more easily. It didn't help that he had been running nonstop before this little encounter even began.

Two minutes into the fight, a bat swung at his legs managed to trip him. As he fell, Harry saw another of the boys throwing a punch at his face, so he instinctively raised his arms to block. Unfortunately, such a move left his sides opened to a sharp kick that knocked him back into a dumpster.

"Argh!" Harry gasped out as he held onto his side, breathing heavily. He grinned mockingly up at the one who kicked him, "Is… is that the best you can do?"

In answer to that, one of the other boys sent another kick Harry's way, but he rolled underneath the dumpster just in time. The unexpected action caused the boy's feet to connect harshly with the metallic box, causing him to yelp out in pain. His buddies laughed at his incompetence before they managed to drag Harry out from underneath the dumpster.

Harry was pushed before the leader, held on tightly on both sides by boys who were physically stronger than him. There was no way he could get out of their grips, at least not without the aid of magic. He was wary of using such a drastic measure, however, because Tonks was still around—he could inadvertently injure her without meaning to. The fact that he might accidentally expose magic to a group of mundanes seemed inconsequential to him.

Jack knelt down so that he was leveled with Harry, his knife once more in his hand. He placed the blade underneath the younger boy's chin, a smug smirk on his lips, "Not so tough now, are you?" To his surprise, Harry never lost his grin despite the promise of pain that Jack could give him.

Annoyed at the lack of fear the boy was showing, Jack was just about to wipe that grin off the kid's face when he yelped in pain and once again dropped his knife. He looked down to the source of his pain and found a pair of teeth clamped tightly around his leg, enough to actually draw blood. Cursing himself for forgetting about the girl, Jack moved to grab her and pull her off.

The second Tonks got involved, Harry knew he had no other choice but to use magic. While there was a possibility she could get hurt by close proximity, there was also no doubt in his mind that she would definitely get injured if he did nothing. Plus, he didn't necessarily have to use magecraft on his enemies to gain an advantage; there were plenty of other uses that'd be just as helpful.

A burst of prana from his body managed to dislodged the ones holding him. The sudden and unexpected move stopped Jack from whatever it was he had planned for Tonks, but Harry knew it wouldn't hold for long. Without a care for his own health, Harry launched himself at the still shocked form of Jack, Tonks' body tangling his legs and causing him to fall back.

Straddled atop Jack, Harry threw a punch reinforced by his od at the boy's face. While normally a nine year old boy's punch wouldn't do much damage, the art of reinforcement was able to greatly increase the strength behind it. However, because Harry had never properly reinforced his own body before, he was unable to gauge his strength accurately and accidentally added far too much prana to his fist, essentially knocking Jack out in one hit.

Tonks watched in surprise as the boy helping her managed to knock someone out so easily. When the fight had first started, she was paralyzed from her spot on the ground, worried for Harry's safety. After awhile, it seemed as though he was able to hold his own for a bit before he was suddenly caught. When Jack's knife was at his throat, all her fears were thrown aside for righteous anger. She threw herself at the older boy in the hopes of saving her companion.

It wasn't long after that, that she saw the boys holding Harry down suddenly flying backwards, knocked away by an invisible force. Naturally, her first thought was that it was she who had done that, an act of accidental magic due to her heightened emotions. But then, after Harry knocked out the leader with a single blow, she realized that the magic came from him, not her. And it was far from accidental.

Once more, she wondered just who the bloody hell was helping her.

With Jack out for the count, Harry had hoped things would settle down. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The whole incident started going downhill, the boys attacking with twice the amount of fury now that their leader was out. Caught off guard by their sudden and vicious attack, Harry was unable to dodge the first few blows, but he quickly managed to regain his wits about him.

Now that he was reinforcing himself with prana, dodging and blocking the blows sent his way became far easier. He was even able to fight back this time around, despite being outnumbered. It didn't hurt that Tonks was actually helping this time around by distracting the gang with rocks thrown their way.

Of course, because Harry was new to reinforcement magecraft, he was unable to hold onto it for too long, quickly losing control in the heat of the fight. Things started degenerating from there, his opponents quickly gaining the upper hand. For awhile there, it seemed as though neither Harry nor Tonks were going to walk away from this. Fortunately for Harry, Lady Luck seemed to be on his side because not long after losing control of his reinforcement magecraft, they were saved by an unexpected source.

A large black dog jumped in and bit one of the boys roughly on their arm before jumping in front of both Harry and Tonks. The dog crouched down low, his body tensed and ready to pounced, before he let out a terrifying growl. The gang of boys were unsure of what to do with this new development, but they were smart enough to know that continuing on with this route would just lead to more harm to themselves. It didn't take long for the boys to run away with their tails between their legs, a couple stopping only long enough to pick up their leader.

For a long while, there was nothing but silence as the two kids stared at each other in confusion at the sudden end to their little fight. Once they were able to get over that, however, they looked over to their savior and both let out a gasp of surprise.

"Padfoot!" Harry exclaimed in excitement.

"Sirius?" Tonks shouted out in question.

Hearing what the other said, both turned to one another once again and couldn't hide the look of shock on their faces. "You know him?" they both asked at once.

Quickly recovering from this weird coincidence, Harry responded first, "Well yeah, he's my godfather."

"And he's my cousin," the girl said dazedly.

Realization struck Harry's face when he heard her words. "Wait… then that means you're a witch!" He briefly wondered what the odds were that he'd run into a young witch here in mundane London of all places.

"And you're a wizard," Tonks stated, her mind still running a bit slow.

While this was going on, Sirius still in his animagus form, sat back on his hind legs and watched the scene in amusement. When both kids seemed as though they had nothing more to say, he stood back up onto his four legs before his form shifted. A brief moment later, where once a large black dog laid, now stood a handsome man with a large grin on his face.

"Honestly Harry," he started in mock seriousness, "I can't leave you out of my sight without you causing some sort of disaster."

Harry turned to his godfather with a glare, though the pout on his lips greatly diminished its effects. "It's not my fault!" he tried explaining. Pointing at Tonks, he continued, "I was just trying to help her out."

Sirius turned his gaze onto the girl, acting surprised as though he just realized she was there. "Little Nymphadora! Is that really you?" he asked as if he hadn't already recognized her. "What are you doing here without your mother, young lady?"

"Don't call me that!" Tonks yelled in frustration, aiming a punch at the older man that didn't even faze him. Suddenly, she looked down at her toes, her eyes large and biting her lips, a complete one-eighty to her earlier attitude. "We got separated," she answered him in embarrassment.

His grin growing larger, Sirius rubbed the girl's head affectionately, messing up her hair. "You got lost again didn't you?" he jokingly said. "I've never seen anyone with a worst sense of direction."

A sniggering sound reminded the two that they were not alone. "Really? Nymphadora? _That's_ your name?" Harry asked the girl, trying and failing to hide his laughter.

Her face growing redder by the second, Tonks leveled a heated glare at Harry that he completely ignored. "Don't call me that!" she repeated herself, a growl threatening to escape her lips.

"And what's wrong with you anyway?" Tonks suddenly asked, ignoring the issues with her name for the moment. "We were being chased and attacked! How in the world could you possibly find that to be fun?"

Harry looked at her in confusion. "It's not?"

"No! No, it's not fun at all! It's… it's scary and terrifying and any other number of things but it most definitely is _not_ fun!"

"It seemed pretty fun to me…" Harry weakly argued, honestly not understanding why she didn't find it as such either.

Sirius laughed at his godson's odd personality, stopping the two from continuing. "That's my boy, Harry—laughing even in the face of danger!" He brought a hand up to wipe away a fake tear, "Ah, James would be proud."

Harry's eyes lit up at that and he couldn't help the large smile that spread across his face. Tonks decided to drop the issue, seeing how her new friend clearly couldn't understand where she was coming from anyway.

The trio spent a short moment in companionable silence before Sirius suddenly snapped his fingers. "Ah, that's right! Harry, you dropped this," he pulled out a familiar wooden doll. "What are you doing with this anyway?"

"Rose's gift!" Harry reached out and swiped it from his godfather, checking it over for damages. "I forgot all about it…"

"A doll, Harry? I didn't know she was interested in that,"

Shaking his head, Harry turned to Sirius to explain, "No, it's an artists' mannequin."

"If you say so, squirt," he said, not entirely sure what an artists' mannequin was supposed to be.

"Who's Rose?" Tonks asked in curiosity.

Harry started making his way out of the alleyway, the others following behind, even as he answered, "She's my sister. She'll be starting Hogwarts this year."

"Really? Me too!"

As the kids conversed, Sirius took a look around the shopping center once they were out of the alley. There were ambulances and fire trucks going to and fro helping people and putting out fires, while cops were trying to control the crowds and figure out exactly what had happened. The head of the Black Family even noticed that the teens whom were chasing after Harry and Tonks earlier seemed to have been caught.

"Harry, what am I going to do with you?" Sirius asked himself. He wasn't sure whether he should be proud that his godson could cause this much chaos and mayhem or horrified at Harry's ability for senseless destruction without effort.

Hearing Sirius speak, Harry slowly, almost mechanically turned his head away from Tonks to the scene before him. There was a moment of silence as he saw exactly how much damage he caused. He looked up with large, hopeful eyes at his godfather, "Um… don't tell grandpa?"

The fear in his voice could not have been faked and it made Tonks wonder once more, exactly what was wrong with her friend. Surely his grandfather, a member of his own flesh and blood, would be understanding of the circumstances. For that matter, why would he be scared of an old man when he wasn't afraid of anything else? Whoever this grandfather of his was, he couldn't possibly be that bad… right?

* * *

><p>AN: For those who've read _The Wizard of the Kaleidoscope_, you might recognize the whole saving Tonks scene. I took the general idea and expanded on it a lot, and in this story, Tonks is actually going to be playing more of a role than the other.

If you're familiar with Miss Blue, you'll know that she has a tendency to destroy things, hence the reason Harry casually causes all this destruction. Rather than it being a result of his magecraft or True Magic like most people would expect, him destroying things is just a natural part of him that has nothing to do with magic. Magic just helps out a lot.

I should note that the only reason Harry didn't do too well against the gang was because Tonks was there. He had to limit himself lest he hurt her, since his magecraft is rather dangerous. Had he been alone, it would've been a complete slaughter. As he grows older and his control over his magic becomes greater, he would no longer have such a problem.

Next chapter will be of Harry shopping for his school supplies in Diagon Alley and the trip to Hogwarts on the train. Not sure when it'll be up, though, so it may be a while. I also have a few ideas for new stories that I'm itching to write as well, but I don't exactly want to abandon this one either. So we'll see how that goes.

Ja ne!


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